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Gangnam Style has broken through the million copies sales barrier to become the UK’s 129th million selling single, and first million seller by an Asian music star!

Gangnam Style has broken through the million copies sales barrier to become the UK’s 129th million selling single, and first million seller by an Asian music star!

Congratulations to Psy - Gangnam Style has now sold over a million copies in the UK!

According to Official Charts Company sales data, Gangnam Style has become not only the 129th track to sell over a million copies in the history of the UK’s Official Singles Chart, but also the first million seller by an Asian* music star.

“This is an amazing achievement by Psy,” comments Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company. “It is further confirmation of Gangnam Style as a true phenomenon – it is the first UK million-seller by an Asian music star, and a sign that K-Pop has truly arrived in the UK!”

While Gangnam Style only remained at Number 1 for a week, it spent a further 17 weeks in the Top 10 and was the UK’s sixth biggest selling single of 2012. To date, Gangnam Style has spent 21 weeks on the Official Singles Chart Top 40.

Not an overnight success

While many view Psy’s ascent to global superstardom an overnight success, the rapper (real name Park Jae-Sang) has been releasing music in his native South Korea for 12 years. His first album, Psy From The Psycho World!, was released in January, 2001, and four more albums, and one EP - PSY 6 (Six Rules), Part 1, from which Gangnam Style is taken - have followed.

A large percentage of Gangnam Style’s, and indeed Psy’s success outside his homeland, has been down to the accompanying music video and now iconic dance routine (which has been performed by everyone from Britney Spears to Madonna, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama).

Gangnam Style was uploaded to video streaming site YouTube on July 15, 2012. Five months later, on December 21, it became the first video in the site’s then seven year history to break a billion views (it was on a mere 186 million views when it first entered the Official Singles Chart Top 40, and 326 million views when it climbed to Number 1). And it’s still going strong: at the time of writing this news story, Gangnam Style is up to 1.2 billion YouTube views.

The new age of the super hit

While the 1990s were responsible for the highest number of million selling singles in Official Charts history (32), it won’t be too long before this decade eclipses that total.

In the last three years 15 singles have passed the million copies sales milestone, with last year being the biggest year on record for single sales in British history. 188.6 million singles were sold during 2012 - a 6% increase on 2011, which was the previous high.

Gangnam Style brings the total of tracks which made their Official Singles Chart debut in 2012 and have sold over a million copies to five (the others being Gotye FT Kimbra’s Somebody That I Used To Know, Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe, James Arthur’s Impossible and Fun.’s We Are Young).

The Million Sellers

You can see the full list of the UK’s 129 million selling singles below:

TITLE

ARTIST

YEAR OF RELEASE

1

SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT/CANDLE IN THE WIND 97

ELTON JOHN

1997

2

DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS?

BAND AID

1984

3

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

QUEEN

1975

4

MULL OF KINTYRE/GIRLS' SCHOOL

WINGS

1977

5

YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT

JOHN TRAVOLTA & OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

1978

6

RIVERS OF BABYLON/BROWN GIRL IN THE RING

BONEY M

1978

7

RELAX

FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

1983

8

SHE LOVES YOU

THE BEATLES

1963

9

UNCHAINED MELODY/(THERE'LL BE BLUEBIRDS OVER) THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER

ROBSON GREEN & JEROME FLYNN

1995

10

LOVE IS ALL AROUND

WET WET WET

1994

11

MARY'S BOY CHILD/OH MY LORD

BONEY M

1978

12

I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU

STEVIE WONDER

1984

13

BARBIE GIRL

AQUA

1997

14

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE/EVERGREEN

WILL YOUNG

2002

15

I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND

THE BEATLES

1963

16

BELIEVE

CHER

1998

17

(EVERYTHING I DO) I DO IT FOR YOU

BRYAN ADAMS

1991

18

LAST CHRISTMAS/EVERYTHING SHE WANTS

WHAM!

1984

19

IMAGINE

JOHN LENNON

1975

20

SUMMER NIGHTS

JOHN TRAVOLTA & OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

1978

21

TWO TRIBES

FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

1984

22

I'LL BE MISSING YOU

PUFF DADDY & FAITH EVANS

1997

23

PERFECT DAY

VARIOUS ARTISTS

1997

24

DON'T YOU WANT ME?

HUMAN LEAGUE

1981

25

CAN'T BUY ME LOVE

THE BEATLES

1964

26

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

WHITNEY HOUSTON

1992

27

THREE LIONS

BADDIEL & SKINNER & LIGHTNING SEEDS

1996

28

TEARS

KEN DODD

1965

29

...BABY ONE MORE TIME

BRITNEY SPEARS

1999

30

MY HEART WILL GO ON

CELINE DION

1998

31

KARMA CHAMELEON

CULTURE CLUB

1983

32

YMCA

VILLAGE PEOPLE

1978

33

CARELESS WHISPER

GEORGE MICHAEL

1984

34

(WE'RE GONNA) ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK

BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS

1955

35

I FEEL FINE

THE BEATLES

1964

36

THE CARNIVAL IS OVER

THE SEEKERS

1965

37

GANGSTA'S PARADISE

COOLIO FEATURING L.V.

1995

38

EYE OF THE TIGER

SURVIVOR

1982

39

THE POWER OF LOVE

JENNIFER RUSH

1985

40

WE CAN WORK IT OUT/DAY TRIPPER

THE BEATLES

1964

41

RELEASE ME

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK

1967

42

SOMEONE LIKE YOU

ADELE

2011

43

KILLING ME SOFTLY

FUGEES

1996

44

UNCHAINED MELODY

GARETH GATES

2002

45

WANNABE

SPICE GIRLS

1996

46

(IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO

TONY CHRISTIE FT PETER KAY

2005

47

NEVER EVER

ALL SAINTS

1997

48

COME ON EILEEN

DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS

1982

49

THINK TWICE

CELINE DION

1994

50

I GOTTA FEELING

BLACK EYED PEAS

2009

51

IT WASN'T ME

SHAGGY FEATURING RIKROK

2001

52

SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW

GOTYE FT KIMBRA

2012

53

TAINTED LOVE

SOFT CELL

1981

54

HEART OF GLASS

BLONDIE

1979

55

MOVES LIKE JAGGER

MAROON 5 FEATURING CHRISTINA AGUILERA

2011

56

WONDERWALL

OASIS

1995

57

IT'S NOW OR NEVER

ELVIS PRESLEY

1960

58

DIANA

PAUL ANKA

1957

59

IT'S LIKE THAT

RUN-D.M.C. VS JASON NEVINS

1997

60

HALLELUJAH

ALEXANDRA BURKE

2008

61

GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME

TOM JONES

1966

62

SEX ON FIRE

KINGS OF LEON

2008

63

BRIGHT EYES

ART GARFUNKEL

1979

64

MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY

SLADE

1973

65

HEARTBEAT/TRAGEDY

STEPS

1998

66

MARY'S BOY CHILD

HARRY BELAFONTE

1957

67

THE LAST WALTZ

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK

1967

68

EARTH SONG

MICHAEL JACKSON

1995

69

DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS?

BAND AID 20

2004

70

BLUE MONDAY

NEW ORDER

1983

71

STRANGER ON THE SHORE

MR ACKER BILK AND HIS PARAMOUNT JAZZ BAND

1961

72

DON'T GIVE UP ON US

DAVID SOUL

1976

73

CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD

KYLIE MINOGUE

2001

74

I LOVE YOU LOVE ME LOVE

GARY GLITTER

1973

75

SPACEMAN

BABYLON ZOO

1996

76

SATURDAY NIGHT

WHIGFIELD

1994

77

WE FOUND LOVE

RIHANNA FEATURING CALVIN HARRIS

2011

78

NO MATTER WHAT

BOYZONE

1998

79

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE (AMAZING)

BRUNO MARS

2010

80

PARTY ROCK ANTHEM

LMFAO FEATURING LAUREN BENNETT AND GOONROCK

2011

81

I BELIEVE/UP ON THE ROOF

ROBSON & JEROME

1995

82

ANGELS

ROBBIE WILLIAMS

1997

83

HIT ME WITH YOUR RHYTHM STICK

IAN DURY AND THE BLOCKHEADS

1978

84

TELETUBBIES SAY "EH-OH!"

TELETUBBIES

1997

85

2 BECOME 1

SPICE GIRLS

1996

86

TORN

NATALIE IMBRUGLIA

1997

87

POKER FACE

LADY GAGA

2009

88

I REMEMBER YOU

FRANK IFIELD

1962

89

THAT'S MY GOAL

SHAYNE WARD

2005

90

GHOSTBUSTERS

RAY PARKER JR.

1984

91

CALL ME MAYBE

CARLY RAE JEPSEN

2012

92

PURE AND SIMPLE

HEAR'SAY

2001

93

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL (PART 2)

PINK FLOYD

1979

94

BACK FOR GOOD

TAKE THAT

1995

95

BLUE (DA BA DEE)

EIFFEL 65

1999

96

PRICE TAG

JESSIE J FEATURING B.O.B

2011

97

HEY JUDE

THE BEATLES

1968

98

THE YOUNG ONES

CLIFF RICHARD & THE SHADOWS

1962

99

DANCING QUEEN

ABBA

1976

100

I FEEL LOVE

DONNA SUMMER

1977

101

LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE

EMINEM FEATURING RIHANNA

2010

102

FAME

IRENE CARA

1982

103

RIDE ON TIME

BLACK BOX

1989

104

ONLY GIRL (IN THE WORLD)

RIHANNA

2010

105

UNCHAINED MELODY

THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS

1965

106

BLEEDING LOVE

LEONA LEWIS

2007

107

CRAZY

GNARLS BARKLEY

2006

108

STAND & DELIVER

ADAM AND THE ANTS

1981

109

I DON'T WANT TO MISS A THING

AEROSMITH

1998

110

CAN WE FIX IT?

BOB THE BUILDER

2000

111

UPTOWN GIRL

BILLY JOEL

1983

112

I WILL SURVIVE

GLORIA GAYNOR

1979

113

SAILING

ROD STEWART

1975

114

SUGAR SUGAR

THE ARCHIES

1969

115

SAVE YOUR KISSES FOR ME

BROTHERHOOD OF MAN

1976

116

I'D LIKE TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SING

THE NEW SEEKERS

1971

117

WHITE CHRISTMAS

BING CROSBY WITH THE KEN DARBY SINGERS AND JOHN SCOTT TROTTER ORCHESTRA

* There are a number of artists with Asian heritage, including Sir Cliff Richard and Engelbert Humperdinck who were born on the continent, to have million selling singles. However Psy is the first artist born, bred and currently still residing in Asia to reach this milestone.